I’ll be doing American Triple T for the first time and am debating what bike setup I should use. Currently I am planning to bring my Felt DA4 with 80mm wheels with 53/39 x 11-28T gearing.
My other option would be to bring my road bike with 52/36 x 12-32T. Potentially I can swap the crankset on my road bike and my tri, but I have to also mess with the chains and so I’m trying to avoid it :P.
Another concern I have is descending. I have overheated a set of carbon clinchers when riding the Savageman course (on my road bike), so if there are long, technical, and steep descents, I may use wheels with aluminum brake tracks instead.
So for those who have ridden the course, what would you recommend? I’m current at around 3 W/kg.
My opinion would be to op for the gearing on the road bike, don’t know your hill climbing ability, but I was glad that I used a compact crank. A few of the descents are wicked, if you have overheated before, it’s not worth the risk. The afternoon Oly is not bad, may want to bring both sets, use the aluminum during the morning oly, and carbons during the afternoon oly. Then you’ll have a better feel for which ones you’ll want to use Sunday.
You’ll be fine with the 11-28 out back, it’s not THAT hilly, especially compared to Savageman. I heard the change the course this year so I can’t comment on the new one but last years course had some sketchy descent (which I think is the one they removed) and was otherwise fine. I raced it on carbon wheels and had no issues. It’s really not the course that makes this race series hard IMO.
I was there last week, Thompson Hill is still steep, there is a short steep section on FR3. Everything else is moderately hard.
If your FTP is around 3 W/kg you may want a compact 11/32. I road that last week and I was much more comfortable going up Thompson Hill.
Only bring the road bike if you want to go slow, especially on the Half course with the new loop. The rest of the course is hilly as well as the two on saturday.
Jaret is spot on with his comments. The new courses will demand some bike handling skills as always but the TT bike is a must unless you want to go a lot slower than everyone else as Jaret stated.
Last year I rode 52-36 with an 11-25 without issue, and this year I am going 52-38 with an 11-28. Also, last year I rode Easton EC90 carbon clinchers with latex tubes and had no issues. I probably braked a lot more than others because my partner was very tentative on the downhills (hope she doesn’t read this).